The more the gravel is like road riding (less frequent shifting, smoother terrain), the more a 2x makes sense. The more the gravel is like MTB (constant shifting, rough terrain), the more a 1x makes sense.
Most gravel I’ve ridden on is closer to road hence I like my 2x. If I went bike packing on gnarly terrain on my gravel bike, I’d go 1x. Or just take my MTB. Eg I thought for half a second to take my gravel bike on White Rim. Glad I didn’t!
E*thirteen does 11 spd cassettes with a 9 tooth sprocket.
Thank you for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I need a 12-speed cassette. (BTW 3T also used to make such a cassette, a 9–32 cassette they called Overdrive.)
12 speed, you say?
I 
this cassette
I love reading these threads, so many good opinions out there.
Am I the only one that runs a Ultegra Groupset with a 40T chainring and a Sram 10-42 cassette and Shimano chain? I find this to pretty much cover me at any gravel race.
I come from a road bike background and can see either a 1x or 2x, but I decided to go 1x on all of my bikes because it flat out is simpler, lighter, allows for better tire clearance and from what I understand more aerodynamic?
I have dropped chains before on both setups, a good Narrow-Wide chainring does wonders and I run a 48T chainring on my road bike, I sometimes come close to spinning it out on really fast flats but that is mainly because I have a 11T cassette on it, a 10T cassette would fix all that for the whole 5-min’s of an entire ride I actually need that gear.
They are both great options, just depends what you want. I personally dont mind or care about my cadence. I am fine at 75rpm and have been known to hold 115+ for a long time and if need be I can really spin up.
I haven’t justified anything I’ve done in 26 years.
I ran 1x Ultegra with a 11x40 XT cassette (and Wolf Link adapter). Never had an issue for 2+ years. I have been gradually moving to GRX as the Ultegra stuff wore out / broke down. First I had busted hydraulic seals in the L shifter and could only find a GRX replacement at the time (mid-2021). Same shifter body as Ultegra, so the difference was almost unnoticeable. Thenlate last year the shift on the right side was just crap so I swapped everything over to GRX.
But I would ride 1x Ultegra for gravel all day and not think twice about it.
Its still so weird to me that we spend god knows how much on all these components and dropped chains are still a thing.
Some bikes cost more than a motorcycle and yet this still happens? Insanity
Ah! I run a GRX RD-RX812 and a SRAM XG-1199 on my gravel bike. I forgot to mention that I had used a wolf link before but the RX812 allowed me to remove that. I use a wolf tooth for the front chainring on that bike also.
You are using that RD with the 42T rear cog, no Wolf Link? I left mine on, but if I don’t need it, I’ll probably swap back.
That is correct!
I use the RD-RX812 with either a Sram XG-1199 (10-42 cassette, Gravel) or a Sram PG-1130 (11-32, Road) or a Shimano CS-R9100 (11-28, Cyclecross) cassette depending on what the bike is doing. I only need to adjust the B-screw for the low cog height.
Just for clarification Shimano calls that RD to be compatible with a 42T, I have no idea if you can go bigger or not
Small chain guides are really nice. Don’t drop chain with knackered derailer with no clutch
To get back to the efficiency question, I think it mostly comes down to chainring size and chain. Sram chains have been shown to be 1-3 watts slower in their stock form, and a 48 tooth chainring is about 10% smaller than a 53. I believe Adam Keiren with Zero friction cycling said somewhere if you run sram 1x drivetrains with shimano or ybn chains and the same size chainring it’s basically a wash. This can work with an Eagle cassette to have the range as Keegan Swenson and Ian Boswell have done. I know it may be slightly biased, but as sram was pushing 1x at the time, but Jordan Rapp wrote an interesting article on 1x efficiency and came to a similar conclusion. See link.
Eagle works for range if you are fine with cadence, and I know a guy who loves it on his road bike and is really fast.
https://instagram.com/speio?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Or look up Speio.
I’m confused by this thread …
Do people REALLY care what gearing setup other riders are using? It’s not like aero-bars or disc/rim brakes – which are issues that could potentially impact your personal safety under certain conditions.
Or is this just one of those do/don’t pull your socks over your tights arguments?
For the record, my setups are:
Gravel: SRAM Force AXS 1x 42t front; 10-44 cassette
Road: Dura Ace Mechanical 2x 50/34 Front / 11-32 cassette
MTB: SRAM Eagle X01 1x12; 32t front / 10-50 Cassette
I just like talking about bikes. Don’t really care what others do. I do like 1x though, I’ve even contemplated it for my road bike, but that would cost money
Socks under leg warmers / tights…always.
/discussion
FIFY
How can you justify a 2x drivetrain when single speed is far more efficient.
